


Eye of the Beholder

by UnlikelyAuthor



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Romance, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-10
Updated: 2017-03-10
Packaged: 2018-10-02 07:55:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10213031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnlikelyAuthor/pseuds/UnlikelyAuthor
Summary: After seventeen years of marriage to Willas, Sansa has a moment of worry that she is no longer as attractive in her husbands eyes as she was.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place a little over a year before the epilogue of The Wolf in Highgarden, but is also can be read as a stand alone story.

Sansa stood in her chambers that she shared with her husband.  She had dismissed her handmaiden for the evening and was alone in the room.

In the corner where the mirror stood Sansa looked at the reflection in the mirror.  The woman that gazed back would not be someone her younger self would recognize much.  This woman’s figure was much more matronly and showed clear signs of having borne several children.

She had put on weight ever since Alysanne was born that never truly went away.  Her belly was also spotted with faint stretch marks from her pregnancies. 

Sighing to herself, she put her robe on and began to comb out her hair now that it was drying.  While it had lost some of its luster over the years, it was still free of any signs of grey.  That was something she could be thankful for.

Most of the jewelry and personal items she possessed were decorated in roses of all shapes and sizes.  Suitable for the Lady of Highgarden and many had been passed down to her from her goodmother and from other women who had lived in the castle before her.  Some of her more personal pieces were gifts from her lord husband and some of those contained carvings of direwolves, reminders that she was a daughter of the North.  The brush she held in her hand at the moment was one of them. 

As she placed it down before her she ran her finger over a wolf on the handle. 

She had not thought of her parents in some time.  Now at the age of thirty she realized with a somewhat heavy heart that she had been married to Willas longer than her mother had been married to her father.

Her parents had been together for sixteen years, she and Willas had recently celebrated their seventeenth anniversary.  The idea of being with her husband longer than her mother was with hers was strange.  It had always seemed like they were together, from a child's point of view.

In those past seventeen years she and Willas had united the lands of the North and the Reach under their house.  Their two sons would one day rule some of the largest kingdoms in the realms.  As well as their sons Sansa had also bore Willas a daughter, their first child. 

At the moment her husband was working on the betrothal of their eldest daughter Alysanne and her cousin Leyton’s marriage with his father.  The two seemed to take an interest in one another and would be a good match.  They would not tell them just yet, in case they drifted apart, but Willas and Garlan wanted to have one on hand should Leyton get any ideas to propose without telling his father about if first.  The boy seemed head over heels for Alysanne.

Although Sansa knew she had been married when she was nearly the same age as her daughter was now, she had insisted that Alysanne’s wedding not take place until she was seventeen.  There was no need for her daughter to rush into adulthood completely the way she had.

Her mind drifted from thoughts of her oldest child to the idea of other children.  Sansa had been thinking about trying for another child, she had always wanted a large family, and now that her youngest had been able to take care of himself better on his own the desire for another baby had started to creep into her days.

Willas was getting older, and now that he was in his forties, he was starting to slow down some and his leg would pain him more often than it had in the past.  Still, Sansa knew he would relish the opportunity to spoil another child should she have one.

Sansa and Willas’s intimate life was still as enjoyable as it ever had been, in some ways more now that they had years of being together to heighten their feeling of closeness, even if they were not intimate with the same frequency as they had been years before.

He had never appeared dissatisfied with her in their bed.  But she could not help but wonder if he would prefer if she looked the way she did when they had first been married or if she should wear a robe when they were together now.  She was feeling more and more self-conscious over the years of the changes in her figure.

While she could never be resentful of her children, she did wish having them had not caused such noticeable changes to her body.

She wanted to make her husband’s blood burn when he looked at her, she did not think that was possible now the effects of age and childbirth.

Finishing up her evening routine, Sansa went out onto the balcony to look out onto the vast lands surrounding Highgarden.

As the last faint rays of the sun were disappearing behind the horizon, the world was bathed in different shades of purples and blues.  It was pleasantly warm outside and a light breeze was blowing, enough to help cool her down somewhat.  Even all these years latter Sansa was still not welcoming of the hot days of summertime this far south.

It wasn’t long after that the door to the chambers opened and her husband entered.  She gave him her best welcoming smile that she could as she approached him.  “I was wondering when you would finish for the night.  Is everything going well with the agreement?”

“Oh yes.”  He replied as he sat down on the bed to remove his leg brace.  Sansa took his cane and placed it in the nook by his side of the bed.

“If you and Leonette would like you can come down tomorrow and see the draft yourselves.  I get the feeling this is going to be the easiest betrothal I write for any of our children.  I know Garlan is not looking at this with the eye of coming out in a better position than he was in, but because those two do seem interested in one another.”

Sansa sat down next to her husband and placed her arms around him.  “I know you’ll do just fine with Alester and Bran.  Speaking of which…”

Willas turned to look at his wife.  “Yes.”

Sansa bit her lower lip and ran her hand up and down Willas’s arm.  “I was thinking about trying for another baby.  It’s not the right time now, but it doesn’t hurt to practice some.”  She looked at him through her eyelashes.

Reaching out to her Willas took little time in getting his wife into his lap.  Once she was comfortably in place she rested her forehead against his.

“I’ve thought about that as well, I just did not know if you wanted another.”

“I do.”  She said without hesitation.  “Bran is old enough now that having another child wouldn’t feel like I had to keep as much of an eye on him right now.”  She explained.

Willas tilted his head up to capture his lips with his own.  It wasn’t long before the couple was panting lightly against each other.

Willas leaned back and started to shift towards the head of their bed to lie down.  It was a dance they had done many times before and had perfected over the years.

Once more Sansa straddled her husband’s hips and leaned down to kiss him when he was in place.  When his hands reached up to untie her robe she took them away from the ties and placed them on her breasts.  She did not want him looking at her unclothed and hoped he would picture her in his mind as she was years before.

Eventually his hands made their way once again to the tie.  Knowing all the tricks to pleasing her husband, Sansa bent her head over to just behind his ear and placed light kisses along the back of his jaw and ear.

It worked, the man shuddered and his hands fell to her hip for some purchase.

With her husband slightly distracted, Sansa worked one of her hands down to the ties on his pants to undo them.  Noticing what she was doing, he moved to help her.  When the ties had come apart she sat up slightly as he struggled some on getting his pants down without moving his bad leg at an awkward angle.

Looking into her husband’s eyes she saw desire mixed with love as his hands came up to her gown.  Once again she cut him off by grinding up against him.  As he groaned his hands went to her back.

When he again tried to undo her gown she went to deepen their kiss.  This time he took his hands and gently pushed her away so he could look at her.

“Sansa.”  He started softly.  “You seem a little distant this evening.  Is something the matter?”

Sansa closed her eyes and looked away from him.  “Sansa.”  Willas gently turned her to face him.  “Open your eyes please.  You have such lovely blue eyes.”

Unable to deny him the simple request she did as he asked.

“My love what is the matter?”  He sat up to take her better in his arms.

“I want to leave my gown on tonight.”  She said quietly.

Sometimes they had left certain articles of clothing on whey they were together, Willas quiet enjoyed it when she wore nothing but stockings, but this seemed a bit different.

“Just… picture me the way I was… before.”  Was all she said as she tried to kiss him again.

Dodging her lips Willas looked her in the eye.  “Before?  Before what exactly?”

She hesitated.  “Before I changed, when the children arrived.”

Willas was puzzled, yes her form had changed when she was carrying their first child and had never returned to the way it was before completely, but he had never voiced or thought of any complaint.

“You do not call me the maiden anymore.”  She whispered when he said nothing further. 

Early in their marriage he would routinely say she resembled the maiden in human form when they were in each other’s arms.  He had not done so since Alysanne was born.  It was obvious this meant that he preferred her the way she looked before she had children in Sansa’s mind.

“Well, you’re a mother now.”  It was the only thing he could think of to say.

“I know.  I don’t look the same.”  She said with a hint of sadness.

Willas reached for her ties again.  When she moved to stop him with her own hands she looked at him pleadingly. 

“Sansa, please.”

She paused and relented a moment latter. With her eyes closed, not wanting to see the look on his face when he saw her bare form, he moved to undo the ties.

He undid them but did not remove her gown from her shoulders.  Instead he opened it and ran his hands down the sides of his wife.  She could not help but shiver with pleasure when he did.

He ran a finger over a faint stretch mark on her belly.  “Is this what you don’t want me to see?”

“Yes.”  She said, still keeping her eyes shut.  “And…”  She tried to gather her courage, it was only Willas, the man she loved and treasured above all others.  Taking one of his hands in hers she ran it over the places that the weight had not left.

“Sansa… these marks mean you have given me the most precious gifts I have in my life.  Our children.”  Willas ran his hands lightly across his wife’s stomach.  Her arms seemed to wrap around his neck by the own will and she tried to get closer to him.

“You carried them here.”  He continued to run his hands over her belly.  “Nursed them here.”  He cupped her breasts.  He leaned over to her ear.  “That makes you all the more desirable to me Sansa.”

Tears began to well up in her eyes at his heartfelt words.  “I just wanted to hear that.”

“I find you very, very, very desirable Sansa.”  He whispered in her ear slowly.

“And if you can stand to still be with me, a fat old man, I consider myself blessed.  Very blessed indeed.”

Sansa turned and buried her face in Willas’s neck.  “You’re not old, and you’re certainly not fat.  How would we be able to lie together if you were?”  She said before she looked him in the eyes.

“Hmmm.”  Her husband said contemplatively.  “So, I am  _ certainly _ not fat.”  He poked at his midsection inquisitively.  “That’s good to know.  But you did not sound so sure about me being old.”  He shot her a playful grin.

Sansa ran her hands through his hair that was streaked with some grey in spots.  “You’re  _ certainly _ not old either.”  She said with a laugh.

The two held one another in silence, leaning their foreheads together.  “I love you Willas.”

“I love you Sansa.”

Placing her hand on his shoulder she pushed him back onto the bed.  They would not be able to conceive this night, but she would always welcome the closeness she could feel with Willas.


End file.
